foreverknightfandomcom-20200216-history
Canon
For an alphabetical list of articles about ''Forever Knight canon, see Category:Canon & Fanon.'' Canon, in terms of a fictional universe, is any material that is considered to be "genuine," or can be directly referenced as material produced by the original author or creator. For Forever Knight, canon refers collectively to those facts or ideas that were actually stated or seen in an episode of the television series, Forever Knight. Forever Knight canon includes: * information in scenes in the Canadian version of the episodes, which was cut when they were shown in the United States. Forever Knight canon does not include: * information in the series bible (unless it also appeared in an aired episode), * anything cut from a script during production or post-production, * comments made about authorial intention by any of the production staff, * information in the original movie starring Rick Springfield (except in reference to the world of that movie), * anything in the published tie-in novels, * anything in fan fiction. Controversies about the Nature of Canon The word "canon" originally meant the books which the Catholic Church officially chose to be included in the Bible; by extension, it means the authoritative "holy writ" of a fictional universe. The use of "canon" to describe the degree to which a work adheres to the standards of its fictional world appears to have originated amongst devotees of the Sherlock Holmes stories as a way to distinguish between the original works of Arthur Conan Doyle and adaptations of those works or original works by other writers utilizing related characters and settings. Much of the interest in and controversy over issues of canonicity have appeared in recent decades in the fan followings of films and television shows, such as Star Wars and Star Trek, which have developed into franchises. When the body of work nominally set in the same fictional universe becomes large enough, it can happen that new material (such as might be found in spin-off television shows, prequels, comics, and books) contradicts earlier material. Such contradictions may be a result of bad research, or an attempt to revise or correct a perceived error in earlier material. When such a situation arises, there is a question as to which material should be favoured and which ignored when one is attempting to resolve all the material into a consistent whole. Two simple approaches are the "principle of first mention" in which information in the original work provides a foundation which later material must respect, and the revisionist model in which the latest work always supersedes earlier material. This question of canonicity is particularly relevant to Forever Knight since there was little attempt on the part of its creators to maintain continuity. Apart from minor contradictions (such as the question of whether Schanke's mother-in-law is alive) and errors (such as Nick Knight's saving Aristotle at the Battle of Hastings), there was considerable inconsistency in the treatment of vampires throughout the series. As a result, not only is there much that is uncertain or unclear, there are actual contradictions. To some degree, fans have attempted to explain these away. In other instances, fans are split in their preference for one version or another. Canon and Fanon Fan fiction based on the Forever Knight television series is not considered part of the canon. This follows the usual practice in fandom: in almost all cases outside the Forever Knight universe, fan fiction is not considered canonical either. This exclusion is justified on the grounds that fan fiction is usually produced by amateurs without the authorization of the creator or creators of the canonical material. Sometimes, however, events or characterizations portrayed in fan fiction can become so influential within fandom that they are respected in fiction written by many different fan authors, and may even be mistaken for canonical facts by some fans. Such commonly accepted fan-originated material is often referred to as "fanon" ("fan canon"). ::Some of this material has been adapted from the Wikipedia article on canon. Category:Terms *